


Son of the Cave Lion

by mechanonymouse



Category: Earth's Children - Jean M. Auel
Genre: Gen, Rule 63
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 07:29:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20422217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mechanonymouse/pseuds/mechanonymouse
Summary: Ayla is five when his world falls apart. His new life in the Clan is nothing like his previous one but he adapts.





	Son of the Cave Lion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Katherine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katherine/gifts).

The boy was Other but he was a hurt, lost child and Iza’s heart went out to him. She couldn’t stop herself from pleading to be allowed to try to save him in the immediate now even though she knew the clan may not accept him. He may die even with her help but she could not bear to leave him and she didn’t believe the spirits would have put him in their path if they had wanted him to die, but it was not a woman’s place to question the ways of the spirits instead she sighed with relief when Brun nodded permission to take the child and bundled him close to her under her carrying cloak. 

After she had cleaned his wound and fed him at camp that night she examined the boy. He was as tall as a boy a few years from manhood of the Clan but he had a complete set of teeth smaller than the baby teeth of a Clan child and none of the development of his testes that she would expect of a boy that age. Even considering his malnourishment the boy was slim and lacking in muscle compared to Clan boys. She worried like Creb he would never be able to hunt. An Others man who could not hunt would never be accepted by the clan. Was it fair for her to treat him of this illness only to have him rejected by the clan and left to wander alone. Her memories and trust in the spirits provided hope, her mother described the Others hunter her grandmother treated as tall and slim compared to Clan men and he was a capable hunter so maybe this was normal for Others and the child was capable. But she was gathering problems before they sprouted, the child had to survive his injury before he could join the clan and she had done all in her power to ensure that at the moment. It was up to his will to survive and the spirits. 

Over the next couple of days the child healed rapidly, moving from alternating spells of delirium and unconscious to a curious conscious child too weak yet to walk the distances they were travelling. Everyday she expected Brun to tell her to leave him behind and everyday Brun continued to let him travel with them, although what would happen to him when they found a new cave became another anxiety at the back of her mind. He continued to make those easily flowing melodic sounds that were so different from the sounds of the Clan, far more often than a Clan child would, especially the age his height made them believe he was which drew looks of reproach from other members of the clan. Creb identified his name as Ayla, as close as they could reproduce it. He was a curious child, more so than Clan children, wandering in exploration whenever the clan rested as soon as he was able and equally interested in what the women and men were doing whether they were high or low status. On one of Ayla’s wanders, Iza saw the cave that would be their new home for the first time. That Ayla was the first man, boy, to see the cave, was Iza conjectured, the reason Brun allowed him to stay. That and his powerful totem.

She had hoped that the Brun would not choose another man for her when they found a new cave but would instead would allow her, Creb, Ayla and the baby to stay at the same hearth. He did not, she was to join Grod, Brun’s second’s, hearth; a calm man she greatly respected but he had a mate already at his hearth, with her and the baby there was no room for Creb and Ayla. Instead, Creb would take the Mog-ur's portion to provide for Aga, her mother and two children and Ayla would join Goov’s hearth. 

Taken away from Iza when he had already lost his entire world once and not really understanding what was happening Ayla cried inconsolably his first night at Groov’s hearth, gut wrenching tears like a wounded animal echoed through the new cave and kept the entire clan awake. Ovra, Groov’s mate, spent the first moon rocking him to sleep while his eyes were fixed on Iza. Letting him scream and sob for her when she was a few steps away broke Iza's heart but Brun had decided and it would be easier for him if this was not drawn out. Droog, Groov’s father, took to teaching Ayla flint knapping to keep the boy from moping. Ayla was an adaptable child, with a moon of firm kindness he bonded to Ovra and took to following Droog wherever he went fascinated. None of the other boys in the clan were interested in learning toolmaking so the old man was willing to teach the strange boy. Ovra had no children of her own and as each pregnancy ended without a live child she increasingly came to view Ayla as her and Groov's child sent to them by the spirits. He was strange to them but he needed them and he was making them as proud as any child she had borne could. That Ayla was showing signs of being a proficient toolmaker and good hunter made Brun more comfortable and happier with his decision to make Ayla a member of the tribe and made Groov beam with pride at the child of his hearth. 

The only sour note in Ayla’s new life was Broud. Broud, the child of Brun’s hearth, had always been tempestuous, quick to jealousy and anger. Brun hoped that Broud would temper would even with age, he didn’t expect to hand the clan over to him soon but with Ayla’s presence brought out the worst in Broud. The boy, nearly a man, was shamed when Ayla brought home his first kill before Broud. Ayla’s habit of following the old men around had brought him to the attention of Zoug who remembered that the Others hunter who stayed with them was skilled with the bolas. Interested in passing his skill on and seeing if Ayla was capable of replicating the feats Zoug’s father had spoken of, Zoug began teaching the boy. To Groov’s joy, Ayla showed similar skill netting a rabbit the night before Broud’s manhood hunt. Ovra proudly skinned and gutted the rabbit serving the choicest cuts to her little hunter. The boy was still far from being ready for his own manhood hunt but Broud felt Ayla had overshadowed his moment. 

Ayla’s totem was stronger than his, his first kill earlier than his. Whether it was jealousy or a dislike of change he didn’t have a reference for in his memories, Broud hated Ayla and that hatred grew with each of Ayla’s achievements. With little petty, bullying actions he made Ayla’s life more difficult. Moving his bolas, sticking out a foot to trip the other boy when he was fetching something for Zoug or Droog. He also took advantage of his greater strength when they were training together pushing the younger boy to the ground and always getting a couple of good gut punches in before they were separated.

At the Clan Gathering, Ayla acquitted himself well proving to be a capable hunter and to be developing into a toolmaker as skilled as Droog. With Brun’s permission, Groov arranged for Ayla to take a woman whose mother’s spirit had been overtaken by an Other and to join her clan. They were eager to gain a skilled hunter and toolmaker no matter how deformed he was and Broud’s dislike for Ayla had not dissipated with time. While Groov and Ovra were sad to be parted from their son, it would be better if he was not still with the clan when Broud became leader. 

Uka, Ayla’s mate, bore three sons and two daughters of his hearth all with Ayla’s distinct Others look. All three boys were good hunters who contributed to the clan’s stores admirably and the eldest took Ayla's place as best toolmaker in the Clan when he died. At Doob’s clan, Ayla was strange but he was a man who had come to them a skilled hunter and toolmaker and proved his worth. Even the clan members who were uncomfortable with him could not deny he was blessed by the spirits and brought the spirits blessings to the clan. 


End file.
